Yesterday’s ride was very physically challenging and, for one teammate, very emotionally challenging, too.
We met at the Milpitas Town Center for a very popular ride around the Calaveras Reservoir. It was cloudy and cool, but the weather report said it would clear up and warm up.
We had a new honoree speak who was currently undergoing treatment for Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. He held up very well talking about himself and how he was very grateful for what we were doing, but when he talked about how his wife was “his rock,” he couldn’t hold back his emotions. It was very moving and provided yet another look into why we do this.
We also had an old honoree speak: Mike Wu. Mike’s story goes back to his diagnosis with Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia in 2003. He had to take a drug called Gleevec®, which was developed by LLS-funded research by Dr. Brian Druker. It helped him get healthy enough to receive other treatments for the disease. I’m not sure if he is “cured” or still in remission, but I’ve ridden with Mike a few times last year and he sure seems healthy to me! Mike was also staffing the first rest stop and driving a support (aka, “SAG”) vehicle, which would come into play shortly.
After the speeches were over, and the first “pit stop” of the day was done at the Safeway restrooms across the parking lot from our meeting spot, we hit the road. The first part of the ride took us through Fremont’s suburban streets. Samy H. got a flat about six miles into the ride—and that’s when tragedy reared its ugly head. While we were stopped to fix Samy’s flat, Megan H. checked her phone and got a message from “someone who never calls her.” So she called him back and immediately broke down crying. The caller told her that her good friend died suddenly overnight of a heart attack. Carmen M. tried to comfort her, but it’s tough to respond to a situation like that. She was overwhelmed by shock and grief didn’t know if she wanted to continue—or if she SHOULD continue. I was thinking about volunteering to ride back with her so she could do what she needed to do, but then Mike showed up in the SAG car. We decided to give her a ride to the first rest stop, which would give her time to collect her thoughts and decide if she wanted to continue the ride or go home. It was also pretty critical for the rest of the team that he be at the first rest stop, so it was a good plan.
With the situation under control, we pedaled on. The climb up Palomeras Road is steep and long. Mapmyfitness.com says it’s a Cat 3 climb, so it’s the hardest thing we’ve done to this point of the season. Since I can only push myself on climbs and descents (flat ground is dedicated to pacelining practice), I really attacked it and got to the top just behind Evan, who is a fit, skinny marathon guy. So, I felt pretty good about my progress.
When we got to the top, Mike had the rest stop all set up. We ate, drank and talked to Megan about what she wanted to do. She felt like her friend would’ve wanted her to continue, so she did. I thought it was an incredibly brave thing to do.
The descent is a good one for speed junkies: fast and fairly straight. Last year, I hit my fastest recorded speed on this run: 46 MPH. This year, the road was a little damp after overnight sprinkles, so I was mellower on the steep parts and pushed hard on the flatter sections where gravity wasn’t helping me as much. I covered about 5 miles in under 10 minutes 🙂
After a short, steady climb and descent, we encountered about 15 miles of mostly flat terrain, which gave us lots of pacelining practice. Rest stop #2 was at teammate Michelle’s grandmother’s house. It was really nice of her and afforded us a real bathroom.
Then came the climb up to Calaveras Reservoir. It’s not as steep as Palomeras Road, but there’s a rest stop in the middle. I had forgotten this part of the ride, other than the spectacular views and the alternating up/down rhythm of the road. I also didn’t see the SAG vehicle in the dirt parking lot at the top of the first, steep part of the climb. The route sheet said “rest stop #2 at the top of the climb,” so when I was descending rapidly, I knew I missed it and turned around. Oh well, another 100′ or so of climbing for me.
At the rest stop, Evan asked me if we were done with the climbing. Remembering what the route sheet said, I said “yes.” Well, I was wrong 🙂 It kind of messed him up because he wasn’t mentally prepared for more climbing, but I honestly didn’t think there was any more! But I kept attacking and enjoyed the vistas by myself.
The descent from the reservoir to Milpitas Town Center has only one thing to watch for: the Wall. For people who do the Calaveras loop counter-clockwise, the Wall is a short, steep climb. For us, who are doing the loop clockwise, it’s a really steep descent with a stop sign at the bottom—and cross-traffic that doesn’t have to stop. Last year, I didn’t make the stop sign and was lucky there wasn’t any cross-traffic. This year, I was prepared and controlled my speed all the way down. The rest of the ride was downhill and thoroughly uneventful.
We rolled into the parking lot about six hours after we started. Because staff have to wait for everyone to finish, we had a few hours to chat in the parking lot. With a solid, 5-10 MPH breeze coming off the bay, it was hella cold! I had my TnT sweatshirt, but didn’t have any pants to change into, so I stood around in my shorts and leg warmers until the last riders came in around 5:30. Now, I think I’m coming down with a cold. I’m hoping the extra day off from work and Vitamin C and Zinc tablets will keep it at bay.